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Annie was afraid of fainting again. Or suffering those painful migraines. She slowly took the paper from him and turned it right-side up. Taking a deep breath, her eyes gaze downward. It was the same picture she saw the last time. A girl with red hair and fierce black eyes.

"Anemone Castiano. She disappeared days from her magic initiation," Kieran recited. "She's the daughter of Duke Derek Castiano and Lady Rose, sister to the young Duke Cayden. Does this sound familiar?"

Her head was hurting again. Annie bit her lower lip hard to focus on the picture. "My... My hair is originally this shade. I dyed it brown to not attract attention." She touched her short ruddy brown hair.

Kieran nodded in agreement. "Red hair is rare to have. Although there are many that have different colored hair, red and white are the rarest hair color."

She looked at him weirdly. "Don't elders have white hair?" He nodded again.

"Yes, they do. The rare white color I'm saying appears on one family only. It appears even on their young children. The gene is so strong, it doesn't matter who marries in. Their child will always have white hair. With red hair though, it's more common but limited to noble birth."

"So she is..."

"She is the only one with red hair in the family, along with her mother. Her brother has black hair. That is why it's very urgent to find this girl. If you are her..." he paused and looked at the picture again. He mumbled something she couldn't hear.

"What?" she asked, leaning in close. He looked at her again, smiling wryly.

"The young Duke will be happy for sure. Maybe we should send you to him sooner than have you help us."

Annie thought over his words. "No," she decided. "I need to pay Aster back for helping us. I've already decided to help you locate the missing girls. I'm sure they will want to go back to their families also. I should help you this much before going back."

"Help?" he asked. "How can you help?"

She looked at him, confused. "Well... I can fight-"

"You don't seem strong and your skills are lacking," he interrupted.

Annie bit her lower lip, trying to hold her temper in. "What sort of skills do you mean?" she asked through gritted teeth. "I am plenty strong."

"And that's the issue," he smiled at her. He gestured at her. "Your physique is not made for strength. Your magic skills are deplorable. You don't even have the capacity to charm or lie your way out of a situation. Mostly..." He paused to ponder for a bit. "Most likely, your good trait is running away."

Her eyes widened in shock. "Ru-running away?"

"When was the last time you won a difficult fight?"

Annie was silent. She didn't remember fighting much. The only times were training and when she was cornered. When she was cornered, she always had a backup plan though. The last fight was with him and she didn't win.